We are 2 weeks old now!

Day 13 - October 30, 2007

Another day passes and our Cleveland Indians are all doing okay. Rafael had the audacity to hiss at me last night bless her. She obviously is not quite used to my smell yet, despite the fact that I am in and out of the room constantly to have cuddles and chats with the Indians. Ryan is making the weigh in sessions extremely difficult because he flat out refuses to stay still on the scales. Every other baby is marvellous during the weigh in's but Ryan actually bounces up and down on the scales as he struggles to stand up and find a way off them. Drambuie continues to be a superb mum and she absolutely adores her children. I really am going to miss "Buie babies" when she is spayed in a few weeks' time, and it will be interesting to see whether or not, like her own mum, Cacao, after being spayed, she continues to mother any children who are in the home.

Day 12 - October 29, 2007

Yes I am still quite behind with diaries but actually managed to take some photos for today's very short entry. We had another 2 babies leaving home today so it's been incredibly busy. Our Indians are still doing well and they are also still on their bed on the floor and Drambuie is showing no signs of wanting them back in the posh box. I will leave the box in the room for another few days and may end up removing it altogether.

Day 11 - October 28, 2007

As mentioned in the last entry, I would be having a problem getting diary entries online, mainly due to the fact that we were showing this weekend, we had babies leaving and a whole load of other stuff going on so entries were a total impossibility. Tomorrow is also going to be a very hectic day but as of Tuesday, the kitten diaries will be back to normal so please do bear with me until that time.

Our Cleveland Indians continue to be an absolute delight whereas their mother is doing my head in at the moment! Drambuie flatly refuses to leave her babies in the "posh box" and has spent the whole of today taking them out and dumping them all on the floor in between the posh box and the wall. I have lost count of how many times I have moved them all back into the box, only for Drambuie to move them back out once I've left the room. By the time 1530 came around I totally gave up and I have put their bedding on the floor, and put the babies on the bedding. It's going to be a nightmare though because at 11 days of age, they are already starting to crawl around and now that they are on the floor they will be able to crawl straight off the bedding <sigh>.

Day 9 - October 26, 2007

At 9 days of age our Indians are beginning to show signs of playing little kitten games which is incredibly sweet. I was in the room with them last night, having a chat and cuddles and the babies were so funny because they have now realised that those things attached to their body i.e. legs and paws, do belong to them and can actually be controlled. This is always such an amusing time because the babies lie in the box on their backs, trying desperately hard to strangle or poke the baby who is lying next to them and you know that their coordination is getting underway when their legs hit the intended targets. Poor Ryan had a smack in the mouth from Kenny and he looked so surprised bless him. Mind you, so did Kenny because he truly wasn't expecting his limbs to go where he wanted them to. The first signs of kitten play is a wondrous moment and it's entirely possible that the housework will go down on the list of priorities as it is increasingly difficult to leave the kitten room when the babies are awake and playing.

I will warn you all that we do have an extremely hectic weekend planned as we have a lot going on and lots of kitten families will be coming to take their children home so there will be no photos at all tomorrow, and possibly not Sunday either.

Day 8 - October 25, 2007

Today's kitten diary brings devastating news. I felt yesterday afternoon that I would lose our darling Travis because he was starting to fade and was no longer full of life. He would not suckle and had no interest at all in feeding, he just wanted to lie down with his brothers, sisters, and mum. Despite this, I did continue with him every 2 hours as I had been doing. At 10:30pm, I went back into the room and that was when I knew the time was coming. He was lying on his side in the kitten box, he was not distressed at all, and he was preparing to leave me. I sat down on the floor in front of the box, held him, kissed him, and said many things to him. I think I must have spoken with him for over an hour. I couldn't give you a time of death because as I said, when went into the room it was 10:30pm and I didn't come out again until midnight. I know that if I had not been in the room, he still would not have died alone as he had the rest of his family with him. But he was only on this earth because of me and as such, I was going to make sure he left this earth while I was with him and hopefully comforting him. I don't know how long it took for him to die, I guess maybe not that long but at the time, every single second that passed seemed like hours. At times I found it difficult to talk with him as the tears and grief started to take over. With each little gasp of breath from his tiny little body, a little piece of my heart broke even further. He tried so hard to stay with us for the first week of his life but for whatever reason, he could no longer muster the will to keep going. His death was possibly one of the most peaceful I have ever experienced. It was so quiet in the kitten room, his little body was so warm as I stroked him and kissed him and when he took his last breath, it was that exact moment that I realised he was now in the best home that he could ever have had, that home being with God of course. With breeding, there are times when I forget that the children are here to me on loan from God. It's my job to take care of them and nurture them but ultimately, they do not belong to me, they belong to Him. Last night, He chose to take Travis back home and I know Travis is safe and loved. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to spend that last hour or so with him and we shared a very special time.

There will be no photos today, there will be no more 2 hourly feeding now either, something that I will find difficult I think. We still have our beautiful Drambuie and her 6 healthy children, and for that, I am extremely grateful.

Day 7 - October 24, 2007

Well, our Cleveland Indians have now reached 1 week of age and I do not know where this week has gone. I actually re-checked the dates on my kitten diary entries because I did not believe that we were really up to Day 7 already. Travis did not have a very good evening with regards to weights, well it was quite a bad night actually. I know from previous experience though that this does happen with babies who struggle from birth so I am not unduly worried just yet and hopefully tomorrow will see an improvement. As our children are a week old I will share their weights with you and you will tell by looking at the weights below that Kenny has apparently spent the past 7 days hogging the milk bar :) The weights will also show you just how dire the situation has been with our darling Travis.

The cleveland indians
Baby	Colour	Sex	Birth Weight	Current Weight	Weekly Gain
Rafael Perez	Brown Oriental Spotted Tabby	Female	81 grams	136 grams	55 grams
Kenny Lofton	Brown Oriental Spotted Tabby	Male	98 grams	227 grams	129 grams
Casey Blake	Oriental Black Tortie	Female	84 grams	127 grams	43 grams
Ryan Garko	Oriental Red Tabby	Male	95 grams	192 grams	98 grams
Travis Hafner	Havana	Male (?)	84 grams	84 grams	0 grams
CC Sabathia	Oriental Black Tortie	Female	88 grams	148 grams	60 grams
Baby	Colour		Birth Weight	Current Weight	6 day Gain
Victor Martinez	Brown Oriental Spotted Tabby	Male	91 grams	166 grams	75 grams

On the whole, I am happy with how our Indians are doing, particularly as this is such a large litter. Some of our babies' weekly gains were not particularly large, however, it is very early days and all the babies are happy and healthy and so long as they keep gaining each day then it will be fine :)